"Winter Warm-Up" Watercolor Finale

Winter Warm-Up

9”x8”

watercolor 

Trying to loosen up with the watercolor, yet keep a good balance of hard and soft edges...while trying to also keep a sense of reflection and shadow.  

Hurry Up and Wait (Grrrr.....) or Life in a Microwave Society

Took a while to get resettled back into my studio.  Now it is time to go do the afternoon Mom thing.  I wanted to push this farther yet keep the hard edges of my book, but when I stuck it under my fan table to dry, the wind really messed up the tonal value I like in the book.  So I have to do the old fashioned thing and wait...

Like I just heard from the Savvy Painter Podcast with watercolorist, Andy Evansen, we do live in a “microwave society”  everybody wants the reward right away.  I just didn’t think it applied to me, until just now. 

Quickie “Treat” in Oil

Winter Warm-up Treat

WSO (water soluble oils) on board

8”x8”

One of the reasons I am trying this “daily” painting (well really about 3 to 4 a week) is to force myself to work quicker and more loosely in oils.  As they say, I think I made "real progress" in that direction on this one...

That was probably because I did this quick exercise in color blending, playing around with hard edges and soft edges first.  Got the idea from Carol Marine’s Book, Daily Painting.  LOVE that book for so many reasons, one being she has these great exercises to loosen you up and a great section on overcoming creative blocks.

Guess that’s two reasons, isn’t it?

Oh well, time to go stay warm in this sub zero weather by imbibing in some of my still life.

Cheers!  Kathy

"Winter Warm Up Treat" in Acrylic

Winter Warm-Up Treat

6”x6”

acrylic paint on board

Feeling good with the way this one turned out.  Looking forward to tackling this subject matter again in oil and full color watercolor.

Still Alive and Back in the Groove

Winter Warm-Up Treat-in progress

6”x6”

Acrylic Paint

My board sub job all last week was fun but exhausting.  Having 75 middle schoolers work with xacto blades (for the first time for many of them) can really tire an art teacher out.  (Only one small nick, thank goodness and I think they are going to live;) 

Actually I think it was the material gathering, prepping and grading that really wore me out...so I did not make it to my studio or computer much in the last 10 days or so, obviously.

Anyway, back in the groove with this little one piece coming along.  Hope to finish him as my boys are finishing shoveling out our driveway from the snow storm that hit central Virginia last night.  I have a different version of a Winter warm up treat for them (since they are all well under 21)...homemade chicken noodle soup!

Pushing It Forward

Taking baby steps these days but at least I am still taking them...right?

This is all I have done in my studio for the past several days....pick paint for the acrylic portion of Winter Warm Up Treat.  I was out of town this weekend and am doing another short term substitute job, this time it involves lots of middle schoolers and very sharp matt knives.  Sooooo I am making sure that things are well planned out.  

Even if I do not get to paint, I try to move things forward, even if it is just selecting my palette.  Got this idea from a post by Brian Simmons, The Seven Steps to a Successful Painting  Before I would not give much thought to color selection, would usually just rush through it to get to painting.

But some days now (very rarely thank goodness) when I am really busy it becomes my one studio exercise for the day.  While it is not ideal, at least it gives me something to jump into right when I do get back in there to paint again.

From Kindergarten to College

Not too much studio time today unfortunately.  But I have my oil and acrylic underpaintings done though and ready to go!

I am teaching kindergarten this morning and then zipping over the John Tyler Community College to teach a watercolor class this afternoon, so I thought if I need to do a demo and it flows with the lesson, I may begin my color watercolor study of Winter Warm Up Treat in there.

Whoops!

Forgot I had removed the frisk (liquid mask)  off of the glass rim before hitting it with that last black ring.  Thought I would have a couple of breaks in it for reflection when, whoops, now I won’t.

Still think it is a good study but watercolor is much more unforgiving than acrylics and oils.  So I cannot go back in to add those reflections on the rim like I could with any other type of paint.  

Which is ironic considering watercolor is considered by some to be the most frivolous paint of all.

Winter Warm-Up Treat

So really getting into composition, theme and mood with this still life.  On the technical side,  I also wanted to take a break from cloth folds and try some reflections (the rum bottle), transparencies (the glass) and flat planes (the book).  The paper underneath is for added color, an idea I got from Carol Marine.  I think it helps to accent the shadow of the glass.